Over the last few months, I've added in a lot of online lessons, and today, I want to share with you the difference between online and in person lessons from a teacher's perspective.
1) When teaching online, I find that there are a lot of things that I took for granted in in person lessons, like being able to point to the spot I'm talking about in a student's music. This means that I have to teach online students about measure numbers, etc. faster than in person students so we can literally be on the same page. This has caused me to teach my in person students measure numbers more too.
2) In person, you can give a high five or a prize to a student. Online students can get lots of verbal encouragement, but you can't put a sticker in their music or reward them in the same ways. It takes a bit of creativity to find more than just saying "good job" when they've done well...and not every student responds really well to verbal praise. This is an area I'm still working on.
3) Interactive activities are different. In in person lessons, I have different manipulatives and games and that we can play that don't translate well to the online classroom. So online lessons have to have different interactive activities...these tend to be more verbal or using the classroom white board. I also am looking for more online games/activities that we can use in class.
4) Online lessons force to students to be a bit more independent faster...that is, they have to be able to find their place in the music, describe what they are talking about, and ask better questions sooner to get the same result...especially when there are issues with camera angles or internet delays/tech glitches. But students can benefit equally from both options. It mainly depends on how committed the teacher and the student are to achieving success.
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